Determining the Opinions of Special Education Teachers Regarding the Use of Assistive Technologies for Overcoming Reading Difficulties

Abstract

Reading is one of the basic skills that the students’ need to achieve, however, it is also one of the important competencies that is essential for reaching knowledge. Reading difficulty is a main problem that many teachers are coming across in their classrooms. Students’ with reading disabilities not only hinder the teachers’ flow of the lesson it also hinders the development of the students life skills. With the revolution of the technology in the 21ST century, assistive technologies are seen to be applied into the education settings at all levels and in all fields. Therefore, teachers are in need to know about the available technology and special technology programs in order to help their students facing difficulties in acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills. Technological enrichment of teachers' educational environment both facilitates and helps them to motivate students more easily. Technology support into the educational environments of the students with reading difficulties can improve their reading skills and enable them to succeed in reading and comprehending. The present study sought to determine the opinions of special education teachers’ regarding using assistive technology for students with reading difficulties. The research design is based on the qualitative case study design with purposeful sampling and easily accessible sampling technique. Researchers developed semi-structured interview form for data collection applied content analysis to analyze the collected data. The analysis of the study found that teacher opinions towards assistive technology usage for overcoming students’ reading difficulties are rather moderate. However, teachers’ general opinions about assistive technology utilization is promising and developing gradually.

The Soft Skills of Special Education Teachers: Evidence from the Literature

“…According to Guo et al [56], in an article published in the journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly, in the quartile Q1 ranking, self-efficacy and effective communication skills are highlighted. Kart [59], in a paper published in the journal Education Sciences, in the quartile Q2 classification, highlights the skills of resilience and collaborative work. For Demirok et al [66], in an article published in the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (IJET), in the quartile Q2 ranking, effective communication skills are highlighted.…”

“…In turn, Kart and Kart [59], in a literature review study, among the skills investigated, highlight the relevance of collaborative work in promoting inclusion and they state that this is one of the factors that most influence student outcomes in an inclusive school and that negative impacts can be mitigated with policies and active collaboration between all stakeholders in the educational process. In this way, the soft skill that is evident in this study are collaborative work.…”

“…In addition to effective communication, special education presupposes collaborative work, which consists of planning, acting, and evaluating as a team. Some of the articles analyzed have explicit references to collaborative work [58,59,62,63], which is in line with those who argue that teamwork is essential in inclusive education [76][77][78][79]. For this reason, teachers need to improve their faculty of cooperation, which consists in the ability to "operationalize knowledge, attitudes and skills in order to act together, with a view to achieving a common goal by maximizing the potential of each individual in a durable and balanced way" [26] (p. 135).…”

The perspectives of elementary school educators in Saudi Arabia regarding the utilization of advanced assistive technology for students with learning disabilities.

“…Although there was a variance, as 11.4% of teachers said they did not have knowledge of high-tech AT, 29.2% of the participants had beginner-level knowledge, and 9.5% had expert knowledge, the results suggest that 50% of the teachers reported proficient knowledge regarding the use of high-tech AT for their students. Demirok et al (2019), in support of this finding, argued that AT produces positive results. The authors revealed that the generation opinions of teachers regarding AT utilization is promising and gradually evolving.…”

BASAER Team: The First Arabic Robot Team for Building the Capacities of Visually Impaired Students to Build and Program Robots

“…Based on a research paper by Sahin & Yorek [11] A well-designed adaptation should provide for safety and proactively prevent any possibility of hazardous situations, research has shown that it is possible for Visual Impaired students to learn and study scientific subjects as well as sighted students, provided that they are provided with a modified learning environment and are taught by teachers who are skilled in teaching science and math to Visually Impaired students. And also for educators to support their pupils learn crucial knowledge and capabilities, they need to be aware of available technology and special technology programs as stated in [12].…”